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In the morning
we took a bus to the port Captain’s office. I was told
that we had to get a permit to make the river journey
to Iquitos. As part of the permit process, Pali had
to type a letter that explained the motive of our trip
and the final destination. The captain requested that
one of the port inspectors look at the raft before he
gave his permission. I was a bit worried because the
Captain said that life jackets would be required for
the trip and we did not have any. Before the inspector
looked at the raft Pali went to one of the nearby riverboats
and convinced a staff person to lend us three life jackets.
The inspector looked at the raft and the life jackets
and when I told him that George was going to be our
guide, a small lie, he signed the papers for the trip.
After we
got permission for the trip, we went to the market to
buy supplies. We bought food essentials, like rice,
potatoes, noodles, fruit salted fish and ketchup. We
bought a 10-gallon container for water, a machete, a
foam mattress, charcoal, kerosene, a lamp, and a bottle
of rum. That evening Pali and I walked around town a
bit and talked about our hopes for the trip. We were
pretty excited and couldn’t believe what we were about
to do. Maybe because I was a little scared and as a
precaution, I called my mom in the states. I told her
we were going to take a trip down the Amazon and I would
not be in contact for a few days. I didn’t tell her
about the raft but I did tell her what town we were
leaving from and our intended destination. That night
we slept in the raft for the first time.
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